Tamao and Nagisa
by Yuuki F
Summary: Straightforward Tamao x Nagisa
1. Chapter 1

1/10/09

This starts during the night after Nagisa has her final dance with Shizuma. I'll take off on an alternate history after this point where-in I'll try to keep in line with respect to the characters as best I can; but with one difference. Tamao actually confesses to Nagisa's conscious face this time. I'm honestly of the opinion that that would've made all the difference (one more little push would've done it), so unless otherwise pressured, that's probably as far as I'll go.

1/17/09

I'm going to consider myself 'otherwise pressured'.

After letting this sit for a week, I thought I'd be content with this as closure, but I'm not. So, being that my heart demands more resolution, I intend to see if I can make some.

I was debating whether to add a different story, seeing as how I feel that I'm better at short stories (this is probably due to my impatience, which might explain why when I read my stories they always seem 'rushed'. I hate the 'middle parts', where characters go about their usual boring banter and thus I(almost subconsciously) end up skipping past those parts. I'd just like to skip and directly and quickly explain each main point as fast as I can, which usually doesn't fit in well with telling a coherent story when I end up reading it.). I had two reasons for adding an anthology of short stories: one was that a collection of short stories would allow branch-off points for multiple other stories, and also because I thought it was unfair since my previous edit had 'End' adjoined to it.

However, the chance that I would continue to a project of such a tree of short stories would be a stupid chance to place a bet on. Given my impatient nature, I'll probably get sick of writing fanfics within a month. Also, if my purpose in writing this is resolution, then I might as well be true to that, and get it done and over with.

*Either way, the first chapter has the same background as before.

*The second chapter I had a hard time creating. I mean, I basically wanted to skip to resolution to see how Nagisa x Tamao live out their days afterwords, yet I felt I had to explain this intermediary part. I'm especially iffy with the transition from her sense of ease the night before with Tamao, to her anxiety in this chapter. I mean, I pretty much write it off on Nagisa's more spontaneous character/stupidity/naivety/etc., but still...

I also really wanted to just avoid it for other reasons. I mean, I want to write about Nagisa x Tamao, yet including this middle part essentially forces my hand to say what happens with Shizuma. And I feel that I've already taken leeways with Tamao's character (I mean, really, the best formula I had to go about making Tamao confess to Nagisa was using the fact that she somewhat likes literature. Even then, I still thought it was ridiculously corny), so how much can I go with Shizuma without taking too much leeway in her character (from my point of view)?

Furthermore, if I deal with Shizuma too much, then I know I'm going to end up wanting to give _her_ resolution; and I'm lazy. I just don't want to do that (someone else, please, take the job (honestly, if someone had written a straightforward Tamao x Nagisa fic that met my desires, then I wouldn't have even bothered writing this to begin with, I blame this on you :p)).

tl;dr, I don't like this chapter.

*The third chapter is resolution and happiness and cake. I just wanted to see them together.

Alright, I might do suggestions to improve the story here-on out, but I _really_ doubt I'll go farther in this story, consider it more or less complete.


	2. Chapter 2

After Shizuma's dance, Miyuki made the pair rehearse a few more times before finally calling it quits. She was, as Nagisa had mentioned, a demonic Etoile trainer. But even though Nagisa continued to dance very well, it was as if she was doing it by rote action. She was in a distant haze that no voice, emotion, or reason could seem to face. And although beautiful, the dance Nagisa repeated in front of Miyuki and with Tamao was an illusion of a dance that she had began with Shizuma a long time ago.

However, Tamao was probably the only one to notice this. The ebbs and flows and Nagisa's emotions were as detectable to Tamao as Shizuma's emotions to Miyuki; they are the kind of feelings that are only of notice to those that are of the deepest friendship. And so, having fooled Miyuki, she relented, and decided to call the announcement for tomorrow, and finally let them rest. Nagisa and Tamao left to go back to their home.

"Reeehhhhh, it's already dark!" Nagisa sighed.

Tamao grinned and looked up, "Yes."

Nagisa looked over at Tamao, then up at the sky with her, silent against the cold air of winter.

"It's beautiful out," Tamao commented.

There was a soft silence as the two looked up into the sky, "Yes..."

Tamao looked over at Nagisa, who was still looking out in that dreary haze.

"Nagisa?"

"Hm?"

"It still hurts doesn't it?"

Nagisa stopped, now looking down at the ground, "Mm."

"Ah, I-I'm sorry; I shouldn't be bringing it up," now it was Tamao who was also staring at the ground.

"No..it...it's probably for the best...I...I shouldn't live with regret."

Tamao looked over at Nagisa, "Then, can I ask you something?"

Nagisa agreed, "Mhm," still looking at the ground.

Tamao gently walked in front of Nagisa to hold her hands, "Where did you meet her?"

The two found themselves, in a way, guiding each other through the forest. Nagisa provided the direction and Tamao pulled her along, keeping her going. Until they could both see a clearing at the bottom of the hill letting a large beam of sunlight surround a solitary tree. Tamao held Nagisa up until they got close enough for Nagisa to rest her palm on the tree and look up through its branches.

"Here, it was here, on the very first day I came to Astraea. I..." She sighed, not able to continue any further.

There was a long silence.

"Nagisa, do you know where I first met you?"

She looked over at Tamao.

"Shizuma had came out of the forest, and told the first person she saw that you had fainted. You were lying right, "Tamao pointed down at the ground below them, "There."

The two of them found themselves looking down at the ground silently for a very long and awkward silence.

Tamao grasped both of Nagisa's hands and held them up, covering them with her own, and looked longingly, "Nagisa.."

"Close your eyes."

Nagisa obeyed, and Tamao continued to hold tightly to her hands, "Nagisa...I don't possess the beauty to appeal to your eyes, so let me speak to your ears." She continued, "I can't captivate your heart with beauty like Shizuma. I can't protect you from every danger in this world. And I probably can't match whatever you had with Shizuma.

"Tamao....."

"But Nagisa, you laid still on this ground like a fallen angel. And I knew then as I know now that you would bring so much into my life and fill what had felt like an eternal loneliness. And if love is what they say would complete a person's soul, well then..."

Tamao took a deep breath, "Then Aoi Nagisa, I love you."

She swiftly moved her arms around Nagisa, their bodies embraced against each other, and Tamao's head collapsed onto Nagisa's shoulder thinking, "I finally said it..."

Nagisa returned Tamao's embrace and opened her eyes to look over to the face lying on her shoulder, "How long did it take you write that?"

Tamao brought her eyes in front of Nagisa's, "My whole life."

After that, there was a long silence as the two continued to hold each other.

"Tamao-chan?"

"Yes, Nagisa?"

"Uhm..."

Tamao looked into Nagisa's eyes.

"Uhmm.....I'm really starting to get cold."

And somewhere, deep in Tamao's brain was a voice that yelled, "If it wasn't the middle of winter, this might've turned out differently."

"Then let's go to bed, shall we?"

Tamao and Nagisa started heading back to the dorms, "You know, Nagisa, my bed's closer to the heater so-"

Nagisa smiled at her, "Tamao-chan, you don't have to keep making excuses to sleep with me."

Tamao replied with a gentle smile.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Nagisa started her day by opening her eyes on Tamao's sleeping face. There was then a slow moment of recollection as she woke up of what occurred the day before. Tamao's words rung in her ears, until slowly a realization dawned on Nagisa.

Nagisa pondered, "...Tamao confessed to me?"

"Sh...she confessed to me!"

"Y...yeah, she confessed to me...Tamao confessed to Nagisa! She confessed to me! She said she loved me! Agh!"

By now Nagisa's hands were covering her head and she was squirming under the covers. How would they face each other through the day?

This woke Tamao up, "Mm? Nagisa? Good morning."

Tamao opened her eyes spotting a large lump under the covers.

Tamao questioned the lump, "What are you doing Nagisa?"

Nagisa blurted out, "You confessed to me!"

"...," Tamao sighed and smiled, "Yes."

Silence.

"Are you o.k. Nagisa?"

"I...I'm...I don't know...what to say.."

Tamao sat down on the bet and patted the lump, "It's all right Nagisa, I won't do anything you don't want to do."

Nagisa replied, "Mm.."

"Now come on, let's get dressed."

The rest of the day Nagisa acted with an anxious disposition towards Tamao. It was one thing to hear her confession, and another for Nagisa to realize its ramifications. Nagisa found herself too nervous to let herself touch Tamao let alone dance with her, despite having slept in the same bed last night. The fact that Shizuma appeared as their coach that night did not help. Nor did it help that Tamao felt the lingering emotion Nagisa had towards Shizuma, and Nagisa's anxiety towards Tamao.

"I feel that all I've done is left her in a state of confusion of where her heart lies," thought Tamao.

By this time Miyuki had entered the hall, glad to see Shizuma accepting this duty. Hopefully, Shizuma would realized that this job that Miyuki had given her was really for her and not Nagisa.

"You need to get more in sync!" Shizuma clapped her hands.

"Yes!" The two replied.

She criticized their performance, "If it has no feeling, it has no meaning. You focus too much on your memorization than giving any actual dance."

"Yes.." The two replied.

Miyuki made her introduction, "Hello, I'm sorry for being late, but as you can see, Shizuma will be taking over. Shizuma, should I control the music?"

"Yes, do so, and then we'll start again."

There was a small awkward pause as Miyuki set things up in which Nagisa's emotional confusion became evident to Tamao.

"This is worse than before, I have to do something," thought Tamao.

Tamao put her hand on Nagisa's shoulder and looked over at Shizuma, "Give me a moment before we start."

She brought her head close to Nagisa ear and began whispering, "Nagisa's still nervous, isn't she?"

"Mm.."

Tamao smiled, "Alright, then I'll clear your thoughts. When the music starts, keep your eyes focused on my mouth and listen to my voice, don't worry about screwing up the dance."

She then leaned her head back away from Nagisa's ear, got into position, and noted to Shizuma, "I'm ready!"

"Alright, then begin."

Miyuki started the music, the two began to dance, and Tamao told her story.

She kept her voice just low enough so that only Nagisa could hear, "A long time ago, there was once a small village where the local priestess was a millipede-"

Shizuma kept a waltz beat in the background, repeating, "1-2-3."

"The priestess, despite having hundreds of legs, was a wonderful dancer, and brought in the new year with a wonderful dance-"

"1-2-3"

"However, there was an ant who was very jealous of the priestess. Even though the ant was a good dancer, the ant was always eclipsed by the millipede-"

"1-2-3"

"So, as a cruel act, the ant went to the priestess one day and asked how she did it-"

"1-2-3"

"'Do you put your 59th left foot out and then your 49th right foot in?' The ant would ask the millipede-"

By now Nagisa had begun to smile a little at the story and stared into the Tamao's eyes.

"1-2-3"

"The millipede replied that she didn't know, and so she said she'd think about it-"

"1-2-3"

"But when she thought about it, she got tangled up and the next day she couldn't even walk-"

"1-2-3"

"The priestess's love for dancing, and for life had dissipated-"

"1-2-3"

"The ant felt guilty when she heard the news, and so she confessed to the millipede-"

"1-2-3"

"And so the priestess was able to find her love again-"

"1-2-3"

"And that year she danced a very beautiful dance."

"1-2-3-and stop."

There was a long silence as Tamao and Nagisa stared at each other.

After a while, Miyuki slowly broke the silence, "That was great, what did you do with them Shizuma?"

Shizuma found herself staring at the two entranced into each other, and then looked over at Miyuki.

"Alright, Miyuki, I got it, I understand what you were trying to do."

She then looked back at the pair, "These two belong together."

And having said that, Shizuma left.

From then on Nagisa's feelings towards Tamao strengthened, and every dance looked more beautiful than the last. The Etoile election came, and Amane and Hikari had won, with Shizuma keeping a cold demeanor throughout the entire election. However, just running for Etoile was an experience that felt to be the equivalent to marriage, which was quite enough for the two.


	4. Chapter 4

By far, this had to be the hardest part of the day for Tamao. She usually woke up fairly early and slept closer to the wall. This left Tamao to stare at Nagisa and stay in bed until she woke up. It was a very nice problem to have, and at least the days started out very happily for her.

Tamao put her head on her pillow and huddled up close to Nagisa. They probably should wake up soon.

She played with Nagisa's cheeks, "Na-gi-sa, time-to-wake-up."

In an instant, Nagisa's eyes popped open and her face came to life, but her voice lagged behind, "Wh...what time is...it?"

Tamao smiled and pointed at the clock.

Nagisa hurredly turned over to look at the clock and got up with a surprising amount of energy, "Ahhh! Come on! If we can get dressed in 5 minutes we can still make it!"

Tamao sighed and climbed out of bed to get the clothes out of the closet.

"I really should sleep on the other side of the bed tonight," she thought.

She took opened up the dresser while Nagisa was undressing.

"You know Nagisa, it's-"

Nagisa interrupted, "Oh! Do we have anything for lunch?"

"No, bu-"

"I guess we'll have to stop by the cafeteria then, could you?"

Nagisa mentioned for Tamao to pass her outfit out of the dresser to her.

"Sure," she handed it over.

Tamao watched Nagisa get dressed, "Unfortunately, the regular cafeteria isn't open on Saturdays."

Nagisa paused for a moment, "...Oh."

Her pace calmed down quite a bit.

"So, are we doing anything today?"

Tamao smiled, "Nope."

There was a long peaceful silence that filled the room as the two followed their usual morning routine.

"Tamao, was there anything you wanted to do today?"

"Not particularly."

Nagisa hugged Tamao.

"That sounds like a good plan."

Tamao returned Nagisa's embrace, placed her head on Nagisa's shoulders with closed eyes, and replied, "It sure does."

A feeling of complete serenity had permeated the room.

Nagisa closed her eyes.

"Tamao.."

"Mm?"

"I love you."

Tamao tightened her embrace as she brought her lips against Nagisa's, "I love you too."


End file.
